Warmed up a bit. Nox was halfway through labour today around 9:30 am. It was a hard labour, more blood than I like. There were 4 out there when I checked, then when I checked again there were only 2; I took one inside to warm up for 20 minutes, then went out and attended the birth of 3 more and wiped them down as they came out. Some of the amniotic ( Read more... )

Here we are. Solstice.

It's a couple days until the actual night, but I'm in that liminal space now. This is, finally, the dark fertile peace. It's the rest before germination. Everything before was just inputs, ready to be broken down into the new year's growth.

I never sleep well before I load animals. Loading took a couple days (as it should, to ( Read more... )

The seasons are turning. Suddenly all the deciduous are yellow and a little orange-- there are no native purples here, and only the occasional red. We've had regular heavy rains again but often just overnight. Yellow aspen against the blue sky is so lovely. The tires got changed, so now the 4runner sounds like a tank again.

I survived last week. It ( Read more... )

Currently:
Penny
Rapunzel
*Nox
**Sparky
Baby Driver
Apricot
**Aux
**UV
Friendly
Black chunk
**Spotted 1
*Spotted 2
Oak
**Acorn
*Hooligan
*Goth
**Piglets x10
Piglets x2

* Getting rid of sooner or later
**Selling or eating real soon now

Two days ago I went to castrate the last 2 piglets. I'd skipped castrating them with the first bunch because they were younger and smaller; one was Little Red, the last born and kind of runty. He was quite a fighter, straggling along after the rest of the group of piglets and squealing all the way, but making it. He was sizing up but slowly. My ( Read more... )

Weird situation.

So yesterday afternoon I went out and found one newly-born (several hours, not minutes) piglet in Nox's litter and one extra piglet in second cohort teenager-girl's litter.

I knew there was another second cohort sow (UV) expecting. Did the first second cohort have a second baby and Nox adopted a singleton from UV? Did Nox have an 8th ( Read more... )

Right after Josh left I had a chainsaw training course at work (truly fantastic! We learned not just work stuff but also how to make planks and hot to (illegally) fell trees).

The next day, two days ago, felt super rushed, as office days in field season often do, and at the end of it I walked out and... Nox was having her babies. There were two ( Read more... )

I have real trouble when something farm-related with an external deadline comes up and I can't frontload the work. For instance, I need to catch my 9 piglets today to take them in to the seller, and she's coming up at a very particular time and meeting me in PG.

This set of piglets is not super catchable; they will come up to touch my outstretched ( Read more... )

The goose who was my first antibiotic injection is doing well. Her wing still trails occasionally but she's tucking it up like the other one a lot of the time now, walking around a bunch, and honking at me along with her mate. They'll be released from confinement this weekend.

The night before last was, again, our maybe last frost. I've been ( Read more... )

Well. Today I castrated some of my piglets, I think all the males. It was my first time - I want to say solo, but Tucker held them for me and his presence was both physically helpful and emotionally calming even though it was also his first time.

Pigs aren't like other domestic livestock, although apparently cats are similar. Most animals you can ( Read more... )